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LESSONS FROM OKLAHOMA CITY
On April 19th, 1995, the citizens of Oklahoma were severely impacted by a terrorist bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. There were 169 dead, several hundred injured, 312 damaged buildings, six collapsed structures, and over 2000 damaged cars. The message was loud and clear…we are all vulnerable to the attack of a terrorist. At 9:02am I was six blocks away. I felt the tremendous blast. I saw the smoke rise above the skyline. I knew there had been a powerful explosion. When I rushed to the area, I saw that the Murrah Federal Building had been devastated by the blast. I was particularly concerned for one of my clients, an agency with 150 employees. Their facility was located in the Journal Record Building, 150 to 200 feet across the parking lot from the federal building. I found agency personnel about a block from their building—assisting the injured and ensuring that everyone was out of the heavily damaged building and accounted for. Prior to the bombing, I had begun developing a business recovery plan with my client. We had conducted an "in-house" training seminar that provided instruction in how to prevent and recover from disasters as well as how to develop or improve an "in house" recovery plan. This proved to be timely! Employees reported that they were better prepared for both the emergency response phase and business recovery phase as a result of the training they had received. In the months that have passed, I have had time to reflect on the many lessons to be learned from this tragic event...lessons related to facilities, disaster recovery planning and procedures. However, some of the most valuable lessons from April 19th center on the needs of the people who were impacted and their role in response and recovery. People are the most important resource in an enterprise. Planning and training for disaster response and recovery must place high priority on people issues. The following are some of the many lessons I observed: Lesson #1: Mandatory Training of All Personnel Most organizations, if they provide training at all, will provide training only for their core group or disaster recovery team. After the experience in Oklahoma City, I am convinced that all employees within an organization should receive some training. Organizations must plan for the possibility that they may lose some of their most experienced personnel. Depending upon the severity of the disaster and the number of casualties, organizations may have to rely on second, third or fourth level personnel to perform needed functions. The Federal Credit Union in the Murrah Building lost 18 of their 33 employees, including the majority of their senior managers at the Vice President level. Some recovery team members may have significant family responsibilities after a regional disaster, may have lost their home or car, may be without day care, or have other serious problems that may keep them from reporting to work. Because personal and domestic priorities usually take precedence in a disaster, it is imperative that a business or government agency have three or four trained personnel assigned to each critical recovery function. Even if the business doesn't require every employee for Disaster Recovery responsibilities, the more people who are trained, the smoother your recovery with less confusion. Lesson #2: Employers Need to Be Prepared to Meet the Needs of Personnel Because many Oklahoma City personnel were near death, had lost loved ones and professional associates, many organizations and agencies provided counseling as well as other types of assistance. Employers need to be prepared to attempt to meet the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of their personnel. After the Bombing, many personnel had their cars impounded because they were within the crime scene boundary. Others couldn't get to their cars or had significant damage. One employer made rental cars available to employees to meet temporary transportation needs. Lesson #3: Personnel's Skills and Special Training Can Make a Difference Keep an inventory of personnel with special training or experiences. They may be ex-military, have another job related to security or safety, have emergency medical training or be a reserve law enforcement officer. This information can be valuable as you assign and utilize personnel on recovery teams. The additional skills of your personnel may be very beneficial in assisting during recovery from a disaster or emergency. Lesson #4: Cultivate a Good Corporate and Law Enforcement/Public Safety Interface This was beneficial for organizations needing to get back into the restricted area. One organization had a reserve deputy sheriff on their staff who was allowed back into the facility to retrieve critical information and equipment. If someone on your staff has safety and law enforcement connections or authority, be sure to note that person as a possible resource and include him/her on one of your recovery teams. If no one currently fits this category but has a safety/law enforcement interest, you may want to consider encouraging or sponsoring development in this area. Lesson #5: Personnel Accountability is a High Priority Plans must be established to ensure personnel accountability after evacuation of a facility. Have at least two meeting areas outside the facility. One should be fairly close to the facility and the other some distance away. Each person who is not seriously injured should report to the designated area for accountability to insure everyone is safe and out of the building. Supervisors or wardens should be assigned to take roll, and personnel should be required to report in before leaving the area. In the chaos after the blast, some employees called loved ones or friends to pick them up and accountability was lost. Lesson #6: Emergency Procedures Should Consider Visitors and Guests to the Building When a disaster occurs, the enterprise may have several guests in the building who are not familiar with evacuation procedures, routes, exits and accountability meeting areas. Lesson #7: Pay Issues Must Be Resolved and Communicated to the Employees All employees may not be required for the recovery. Furthermore, the facilities, capabilities and equipment required for them to work may not be available. Normally salaried workers would expect to get continued pay. Hourly, part time or temporary workers should know in advance their pay status. Naturally, if the organization can afford it, the benefit should go to the worker. Workers who are on pay status, but may not be needed for some period, should be told that they are on a standby status and need to be available on short notice. This would not be the time for shopping, recreation or a long weekend. Lesson #8: Develop an Equitable Distribution of Work Frequently, the burden for the recovery goes to a few key people who may be overworked and under great stress. There may be recovery support activities that other employees can do during this time. This will help avoid feelings that some are doing all the work and others are getting a "free ride." To avoid burnout, early in the recovery process consider dividing your recovery personnel into balanced teams for shift work. In conclusion, well trained, dedicated employees and thorough preplanning are the keys to successful recovery in a local disaster, in a bombing or in a large regional or natural disaster. About the author: |